Neeraj Chopra, the defending champion effortlessly advanced to the men’s javelin throw final at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Tuesday, delivering a standout performance during the qualification round.
Competing at the Stade de France, Chopra unleashed an impressive 89.34m throw on his very first attempt, surpassing the direct qualification mark of 84m.
This throw ranks as the second-best of his career, with his personal best and the Indian national record being 89.94m, achieved at the Stockholm Diamond League in 2022.
Chopra, 26, also recorded his season’s best in Paris, previously setting a mark of 88.36m to secure second place at the Doha Diamond League in May.
The men’s javelin throw final is set for August 8 at the same venue. Competing in his second Olympics, Chopra aims to defend his gold medal from Tokyo 2020, where he won with an 87.58m throw.
However, he is expected to face tough competition from Germany’s Julian Weber, who also met the direct qualification standard with an 87.76m throw on his first attempt, surpassing Chopra’s Tokyo-winning mark by 18cm.
Other strong contenders include two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who marked a formidable 88.63m throw on his first attempt, and Jakub Vadlejch of Czechia, who qualified with an 85.63m throw.
Vadlejch had edged out Chopra by 2cm at the Doha Diamond League earlier this year and won silver at Tokyo with an 86.67m throw.
Additionally, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who finished second to Chopra at the 2023 World Championships and is the reigning Commonwealth Games champion, threw 86.59m on his first attempt to secure his spot in the final.
Unfortunately, India’s Kishore Jena did not qualify for the final. Competing in Group A earlier in the day, Jena’s best throw was 80.73m on his first attempt, followed by an invalid second throw and an 80.21m throw on his last attempt.
He finished ninth in his heat, falling outside the top 12 athletes across both heats who advanced to the final.